An earlier visit
by planet p
Summary: Debbie and her best friend visit Broots.


**An earlier visit **by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _the Pretender_ or any of its characters.

**Author's Notes** Basically the same thing as _A visit_, but written before this, sans (without) Scary!Broots; M, nonetheless.

As you will have noticed, the names of Debbie's best friend continually change, but if there is a mention somewhere as to her being a Goth, she is the same character. Let's call her Lettie this time…

If you can think of a name you think would suit her – or Fulton, a recurring character from many of my other stories – I'd be more than happy to take it into consideration.

* * *

Two great brown orbs stared back at him out of the dull afternoon light, bitter wind lashing her dark hair against her face and into the corners of her mouth.

Broots, having come to the door at the sound of the doorbell, let his gaze shift from the young woman stood before him to the teenager bounding up the garden path, his baby daughter, Debbie, now twenty.

Debbie came up behind her friend, out of breath, and grinned. "Surprise!"

xoxo

The twenty-four year old beamed and leant in as though to hug him, paused, and stuck out her hand.

"Dad, Lettie. Lettie, Dad."

Lettie was by no means slim, but neither inclined toward obesity, and wore two shiny black chunky-heeled boots with orange stitching, a tight Mickey Mouse tee over a plain navy long-sleeved shirt, and a pair of stone-washed skin tight jeans tucked into her boots. A black and white check pea coat was folded neatly and stuffed into the black polypropylene alternate shopping bag slung across her right shoulder.

"Be nice to her," Debbie whispered, shooting her father a cute smile, and ducked past the pair into the house, off to make a coffee, she said on her way past, placing a kiss on her father's cheek.

Broots took the offered hand and shook it, feeling somewhat hesitant. His daughter's best friend, whom he had heard mentioned in idle talk over the years, was four years her senior.

xoxo

Lettie leant against the kitchen sink, back to the darkened windows, mug of hot coffee clutched in both hands, and laughed raucously as Debbie, seated at the kitchen table, told her father about her second year of college.

"Lettie's a nurse," Debbie told her father.

Lettie stepped away from the kitchen sink, turning momentarily to place her mug in the sink with a metallic chink, and smiled, launching into an explanation of her work.

Broots was unsure of this woman's predisposition to smiling and laughter. He was worried for his Beedie and did not think he wanted her mixing with the undesirable element. She was vulnerable all on her own, just as she had been when she had first moved into Blue Cove, and he had his work; beside, she was of that age when she felt embarrassed by her parents if they were brought up in conversation and acted increasingly secretive of her whereabouts and doings. He had heard a lot about young people and drugs.

xoxo

Dinner was take-away pizza and soda. Lettie, as opposed to Debbie's two slices of pizza, ate as though she was starved. Lettie liked Paz, she said, but Broots had no idea what Paz was. Lettie made coffee and Broots dug a tub of ice-cream out of the freezer for dessert. Broots overheard those stupid jokes that made his daughter snort.

xoxo

Broots sat awkwardly on the sofa as Debbie set about playing her new CD, and Bo-ho Goth rock band named Igor. The name, she explained, was derived partly from Frankenstein's Monster and the concept that love made one its slave.

Lettie dashed over and seized his hands, pulling him to his feet. "Dance with me," she giggled, before he was pulled uncomfortably close up against her for what he remembered as being a Connie Francis number: _Trains and Boats and Planes_.

Lettie sung along, and it was clear to Broots that his daughter had got onto this music as a result of this woman.

xoxo

Broots danced badly, and trod on Lettie's feet more than once, but the woman was all beaming smiles. Broots was utterly horrified when the woman offered to assist him with his dancing, but played along for the sake of his Beedie. She looked so happy and he hadn't the heart to embarrass her by refusing.

xoxo

Lettie slept on a camp roll in Debbie's room.

* * *

Broots woke at four and trudged down to the kitchen to fetch himself a glass of water. Running his hand along the wall, he was startled to find Lettie sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of coffee.

Lettie smiled behind her pudding bowl hair, dressed in a pair of zoo print flannelette pyjamas, her feet bare. "I made some coffee," she told him softly, "but I expect it's gone cold now."

Broots remembered to nod too late and moved across the room. "Bad dreams?" he tried.

Lettie snorted, almost bitterly, and Broots almost faltered. "Something like that."

It was only then that Broots was able to place her accent as being of Canadian origin, without any of that American drawl.

Broots took up opposite the woman with his stone cold coffee, and found the words out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "You wanna talk about it?"

Lettie looked up into his eyes. "Honestly? Not really, no."

Broots sipped his coffee and thought how much he disliked cold coffee.

"I," she laughed suddenly, "I remember counting alligators as a girl."

Broots didn't know what he should say, so he ended up saying nothing at all.

They stayed like that for quite sometime, the silence broken only by the sounds of the artificial neon strip and the refrigerator. Broots was interrupted in his thoughts by Lettie standing. She took her mug to the sink, washed it out, and set it down neatly on the draining board upside down. Broots moved past her and placed his own mug in the sink. Lettie turned suddenly and caught him watching her. "You don't mind if I sleep on the couch, do you?" she asked.

Broots remained unresponsive for a moment, embarrassed. "N-no," he stuttered, finding his voice, "go right ahead."

Lettie smiled grimly, and brushed a nervous hand across her fringe. "Thanks."

Broots forced a smile but no words came. His eyes caught on the lacerations and ugly bruising around her wrists and he took one of her hands to better inspect the damage. He couldn't think how he had missed them before, but then again, for such a confident personality, she seemed to have quite a liking for too-long sleeves.

A flicker of fear came into her brown eyes, no longer soft, and she backed into the sink.

Broots followed. He could do nothing about this woman, but his daughter would not be hanging around abusive types. He had to know if anyone had hurt his baby girl, and if this woman was any kind of friend, she would break up their friendship rather than subject Debbie to any sort of trauma. That was what it meant to be grown-up. "If anyone hurt my baby-"

His investigations were cut short abruptly, Lettie reaching up her little hands around his head. She reached up on tiptoes and kissed him without any air. Her hands, frozen from the cold water she had washed the mug out in, moved down his back to the hem of his shirt, and slid up his back, moving in circles, causing him to shiver horribly.

xoxo

Lettie was pressed, back to floor, chest heaving, legs tangled in his. She arched and moaned and ached and kissed him all over. Her hot breath on his skin caused him to tingle long after it was over and he was lying in his cold bed alone, tossing and turning. She sucked on his arms and shoulders, and giggled into the side of his face with that little snort of hers. Her heels scrambled on the tile for leverage and she pawed and plied at his skin. Hands found his backside and squeezed and encouraged as she squirmed. She groaned and heaved and yanked him down upon her with no air in her lungs. She held her breath and was silent, her eyes his only clue to what she felt. His head swum as though she was a drug inside him. She fell back down to earth with a thud, her deathly clutches on him released, and found her breath again, shaking and uneven. He flopped down on top of her, exhausted, and gazed into nothing, her heat burning into him. He lay on top of her, heart pounding, his chest bursting. She had gone suddenly lifeless. He watched her as she dressed. His head was still all over the place. Cold and unfeeling, she left the room to get some sleep.

* * *

Lettie woke early to take a shower. She returned to the couch to find that sleep had fled her. She scrubbed the kitchen floor until it shone, and fixed the kitchen in order. The sun was in the window by then. She sat and drank a coffee, staring into its dark depths. Debbie would be up soon. She set her coffee to cool in the middle of the table and stood to make breakfast.

* * *

Debbie laughed and hugged her friend, she hadn't had to do all this, but Lettie told her it was okay, she couldn't sleep beside. She supposed she felt a little awkward in a house she had never been to before. Debbie smiled and agreed that she would probably feel the same. She shoved her a little and joked that Lettie would make some boy a good wife one day.

xoxo

Broots came down to breakfast at eight-thirty. Debbie hugged him and whispered in his ear the time. He would have to hurry. Silly thing he was, had slept in. He didn't want to be late for work. He couldn't think why, and it was only that he remembered about the night before when he met Lettie coming into the room as he was going out. The woman smiled and wished him a good morning. He hurried off without saying a thing, hoping his Beedie wouldn't think him impolite and rude. At this rate he would end up running late for work.

* * *

Parker observed her watch idly, taking her position at the boardroom table. If her idiot tech boy didn't arrive soon his arse would be fired and out that door faster that he could say "better late than never"! Sydney looked his usual collected self. She glanced across at her father.

Raines was talking with Fulton, who Parker had heard all manner of nastiness in relation to. She ignored Sydney's enquiring look and strained to hear what exactly they were talking about. Parker supposed they were arguing over some medical bullshit and snickered. Her daddy seemed to be watching them also. She could see him puffing up and imagined he might tell them flat out that personal disagreements had no place in the boardroom.

Cox was too busy to be working InDel with Field and so Fulton seemed to have been assigned to step in for him. Parker smiled politely. The woman was sure to come out all beaming smiles!

Broots arrived fifteen minutes late. Mr. Parker seemed not to notice, in the middle of an increasingly hostile conversation with Lyle, who seemed to think the Chairman's puffing himself up was terribly amusing. Parker shot her tech a look that quite plainly stated that they would be having considerable words afterward, and wondered if her little brother wanted a smack across the face. Daddy was not the diplomatic sort when people he felt he had a hand over got in his way; it was only when he was over-powered that he shut his mouth and put up. Sydney had that _curious and curiouser_ look that he got when he was trying to figure people out and Parker wished him luck on that one. In her opinion, there was nothing _to_ figure out. The boy was a bean!

xoxo

Parker left the boardroom with Sydney, Broots lagging as usual, and shook her head. Raines and Fulton seemed to have started up some new argument about God knows what and Sydney was watching them again. Parker wondered if he was not a touch envious.

He brother was leant against the wall on his cell phone. She supposed he could only have been talking with Cox. Nobody else in the whole entire establishment apart from her brother and his lover boy spoke that drat language. Afrikaans, she supposed it was called. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and stalked on past him. Stupid little prick thought it was right funny pissing Daddy off just so she would get yelled at later because she was the eldest and it was her responsibility to have a word with the moron about undermining the Chairman in company of his employees and how bad that looked not only for his leadership, but also for the Parker family! She rolled her eyes and stomped off. She supposed she might just make friends with Bowman and see how happy chappie that made her brother when she announced that they were going to get married. She imagined he might drop dead then and there and she would be rid of the annoying git forever. An amused grin came to her mouth. Sydney frowned. He supposed he ought just to give up. It wasn't as though he had ever really had a hope of figuring her out!

She stormed into her office and thumped herself down in her chair behind her desk and started filing through her various papers and memos. Sydney maintained a safe distance in case she did anything rash. Parker stood abruptly and glided around her desk. Seizing her tech by the front of his clothes, she slammed him up against the back of the door. "Don't you ever turn up late to a boardroom meeting again, do you hear me?" The poor tech was too frightened to even open his mouth. Sydney felt a little sorry for him, but he had learnt a little something about keeping one's place. "You have no fucking idea how bad you made me look back there in front of all those high and fucking mighties and my fucking idiot brother deserves to be shot one of these days. Fucking morons!" Sydney didn't think he'd ever heard Parker swear so much in her whole entire life. "The next time you decide to pull another fucking stint like that, don't even fucking bother turning up at all, in fact, make sure you're fucking dead, because if you're not, I will find you and kill you, and then you will be fucking dead!" She threw the frightened computer tech away from her and stalked off out of her office. Sydney stayed right where he was. He didn't want to end up accidentally shot a second time.

* * *

Parker found her tech down in SL-5, Tech Space. He was typing away at something techie tech tech. She stalked over there and placed a mug of coffee beside the keyboard for him. Broots didn't bother to look around. Parker stood there and waited for him to say something angry.

xoxo

"Your brother is nothing to Mr. Parker," the tech spoke into the silence, "You're his Angel. He's like a little kid who has to disagree because he knows that's the only way he's going to get any attention." Broots looked around finally. "I thought you would have understood that."

Parker watched her trusty tech for a moment of silent contemplation and thought with horror that he had caught the Sydney Green disease. God, he was infecting the whole world! But she was over-reacting, and she supposed her tech had a point. Her brother was damaged.

"Your father may not show you the kind of attention you would think much of, but you exist, you matter."

"You gonna drink that coffee or am I gonna drink it for you," Parker blurted, avoiding the issue.

Broots watched her for a moment and sighed. "No, you go ahead. It was a nice thought, but I'm trying to cut down on the caffeine. I had about ten cups this morning."

Parker grinned deviously and snatched up the mug.

Broots cut in before she had the chance to say anything further. "I think you should just leave it be for the moment. Perhaps we will talk about this later, perhaps we won't? I don't know. I'll have to think about it. And please don't take this as a snob, because it isn't, I just need some breathing space. I'm only human too." He sighed. "I think that sometimes you forget that. And I think that sometimes you forget that you are too." He stabbed a key on his keyboard. "Shitty bloody computer." Leaning across the desk, he slapped the side of the processor.

Parker smiled faintly and left the room. Things were going down in that boy's head that she just didn't understand.


End file.
